The European Union is in good shape, and that’s in part down to Jean-Claude Juncker, according to … Jean-Claude Juncker.

The European Commission president, one of the few people left in the Commission this week before he heads off on a summer break, told POLITICO that despite a challenging year, the bloc is in the mood to tackle any problems that come its way — including Brexit and Donald Trump.

“There is really nothing to complain about,” he said in his office on the 13th floor of the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters. With recent figures showing economic growth and falling unemployment, and with the budget deficits of member countries decreasing, “there is something better to report than a year ago” and that’s “not dependent on my mood, but on facts.”

How big a share of the credit does the Commission get for that? It should be sizable, Juncker said, but in reality it’s “relatively small,” adding that he’s “too old, too experienced” to be bothered by national capitals claiming the credit and Brussels getting the blame.

That’s a pattern likely to be seen in the Brexit talks, and Juncker said he had every reason to believe that would be the case.

Brexit won’t be just an annoyance, he said, more of a headache. “People will become more and more conscious of the density of problems on a daily basis, without always being able to provide a coherent answer to these problems.”

“We are better organized than the Trump administration … if there are any internal difficulties, those difficulties are fixed in a direct conversation instead of by firing people” — Jean-Claude Juncker

The Commission’s “working hypothesis” is that Brexit will happen, eventually. “I don’t go as far as the Maltese prime minister [Joseph Muscat] who has not ruled out that it will not come to Brexit,” Juncker said. “My working hypothesis is that it will come to Brexit.”

Speaking in German late on Tuesday afternoon, Juncker repeated what has become a mantra for EU leaders: that Brexit talks are in good hands with Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator. That means Juncker only spends “as much time as it needs” on Brexit, without specifying a time, he said; his chief of staff Martin Selmayr in May said the Commission boss wouldn’t devote more than half an hour a week dealing with Brexit. Instead, Juncker said, he’s focused on “the EU’s positive agenda” such as “economic growth and investments, migration and security, the development of a common defense policy, and strengthening our trade relationships with Japan, Canada and Latin America.”

Juncker vs. Trump

The Commission president didn’t hold back when it came to Donald Trump, saying that he had already “explained” to the U.S. president that he “should stop wishing for others to imitate the British” by leaving the bloc.

He also mocked Trump for the disorganized way in which he oversees the White House.

“It’s stunning,” Juncker said when asked about recent events in Washington, culminating in the firing of Anthony Scaramucci as comms director after just 10 days in the role.

“We are better organized than the Trump administration. That is because if there are any internal difficulties, those difficulties are fixed in a direct conversation instead of by firing people,” Juncker said, noting that he had no reason to fire anyone.

If the EU was falling to pieces, as Trump has claimed, “the western Balkans would lose the European perspective,” Juncker said in the interview.

“I’m not in favor of the western Balkans joining the EU soon,” Juncker said. “But if you take away the European perspective, then we will again experience what we experienced in the 1990s. In this respect, the stability of the composition of the European Union is a prerequisite for the Balkans not being at war again. I hope [Trump] understood that.”

He added that Trump hadn’t of late repeated his call for other EU members to leave the bloc.

Juncker said his track record since coming into office in 2014 helped him cope with the arrival of Trump and the U.K.’s decision to leave.

“If the Commission had not ensured that Greece was not expelled from the eurozone in 2015, the balance would be less good,” Juncker said. “At the time, I fought hard for the stability of the Eurogroup, in particular for Greece [against the wishes of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble]. If I hadn’t done that, the eurozone would have decayed.”

Difficult neighbors

Juncker did acknowledge that Europe faces problems, including with Poland and Hungary, which have refused to accept refugees under the EU’s relocation scheme and come under criticism from Brussels for allegedly undermining the rule of law. He took a tougher line with Warsaw — which will be “more lonely after Brexit” — than Budapest.

Juncker said he has a caring relationship with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán | Olivier Hoslet/EPA

Asked about the difference between dealing with the Polish leadership and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Juncker said: “Well, I’ve got a caring relationship with Orbán. We talk regularly, I see him regularly — even if it’s not always made public — because I think I do not want to lose Hungary.” He didn’t make the same pledge about Poland, or even mention it.

On the subject of noisy neighbors, Juncker said enlargement talks with Turkey should not be halted, on paper at least. That goes against the line taken by the European Parliament and by the government of Austria, both of which have called for an end to the stalled talks in the wake of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s crackdown on opponents.

“Turkey is our neighbor, we can’t simply let it slip into oblivion,” Juncker said. “I am not in favor of ending the accession talks with Turkey, which is a demand from the European Parliament.”

“Because there is the European Union, war doesn’t need to happen” — Jean-Claude Juncker

“But the fact is that Turkey is moving away from its self-imposed obligation to become a member of the European Union almost every minute. It’s not the European Union that joins Turkey, but it’s Turkey joining the European Union.”

Summer reading list

Juncker heads off on vacation soon, to Austria. He’ll be taking books by Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk (“difficult to read”) and a crime thriller “that talks about Trump, Clinton, Bush. And because I know these guys and don’t see them described accurately, I’ll write the author a letter.”

Also on the summer reading list will be “1913: The year before the storm,” by German writer Florian Illies, which Juncker has read before and recommended “to the young people here at the Commission.”

It’s a book “describing the situation in 1913 in a mood of peacefulness all over Europe. Then the war broke out. I can’t get rid of the thought that it can happen again. But because there is the European Union, it doesn’t need to happen.”

wow

‘Then the war broke out. I can’t get rid of the thought that it can happen again. But because there is the European Union, it doesn’t need to happen.”

The German’s caused the war, not the whole of Europe. Revisionism may suit some German’s and their allies (France/Italy/Spain for instance) but it does not suit the UK I’m afraid.

This is pure revisionism. Let the guilty admit their guilt and not blame all Europe.

The Brits do not need to give up all sovereignty in order to not start a war, as we didn’t start it in the first place, so the peace and love argument does not work on Brits. The only way to get Brits on side is by the EU being good, efficient value for money. And it is not. It takes 10 years to get the simplest thing done ie trade deals, even with much smaller countries than the EU (they have only done deals with smaller economies, never a larger one as they have no confidence), so we will leave, save money and do the job ourselves in a timely manner.

The argument that UK cannot do trade deals as good as EU fails because the balance is in UK favour; 195 countries in the world are smller economically than the UK. Only 4 economies are larger than the UK and EU cannot complete a trade deal with them.

All arguments and propaganda fail.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 8:03 AM CET

Pexit

Difference between Trump and Juncker…elected – selected by merkel…a few billion-puppet of the elite…

Posted on 8/3/17 | 8:04 AM CET

wow

Keep your peace and love crap to yourselves.

As Helen Mirren was reported as saying today (she does L’oreal adverts in UK)

‘L’oreal cream proably does F—- all’

PR and propaganda will only get you so far in UK.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 8:36 AM CET

Commenter 'wow' is a liar

Dear ‘wow’, the only “revisionist” here is you, as Germany did not start WW1. That this basic fact of history needs to be explained to anyone, especially someone purporting to draw lessons from history, is concerning. And also contrary to your narrative, all great European powers wanted and contributed to the war to some extent. This is a view shared by the vast majority of historians.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 9:25 AM CET

Emmbee

Germany did not start WW1, at least not alone – they share that dubious honour with Austria

maciekimaciek

“The European Union is in good shape.”
J-C Juncker has evidently not even stopped heavy-drinking, save be ready for any serious fight.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 11:48 AM CET

Vive le Luxembourg

Brexit will not happen, for it is insane. Insane things do not work as reality crushes them. Already half a million of the senile demented who voted to cut England’s throat have died. In the next two years a further million will join them. Then the young voters who do not want their lives ruined by embittered old bigots, will restore sanity in a new referendum. We will welcome you back – but henceforth you must behave like grownups.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 11:59 AM CET

Veritas-Semper

OMG! Juncker cares about Hungary. But,… he is silent on Poland.

Should we care at all what the “tipsy” Juncker thinks at all, since “everything is fine and dandy”? Obviously, he comes from another universe of his own making.

The reason he is “silent on Poland” is because his boss – Donald “little” Tusk – is being questioned by the Polish prosecution in Warsaw as to his abandonment of duty as PM at the time of the Smolensk tragedy.

He is silent on Poland because Poland is finally doing what all the “core group” countries are doing – promoting its own interests and having found an ally in the new US Administration, Poland is about to score a big win in stopping Nord Stream II: a German financial project not only counter to the interests of Poland in particular, but against the law and interests of the European Union itself.

Now, that is the “rule of law” the EuroCommissars chose to “rule” against. And, Juncker is silent on that, as well.

All is well – Herr Juncker – all is well…

Posted on 8/3/17 | 12:07 PM CET

TomTom

@wow

It is a basic fact that Germany did not start World War One. You seem to be the only person in 2017 who seriously believes that. Read “The Sleepwalkers” by Christopher Clarke. Who is BRITISH by the way.

wow

The governor of the Bank of England has predicted that the financial sector could double in size to be 20 times as big as GDP within the next 25 years, but warned that the government must hold its nerve and resist pressure to water down regulation after Brexit.’

Cheerio then Junker.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 11:00 PM CET

wow

@everybody

Yes I see he said 1913 now. Still, he uses either war as it suits his propaganda, so my point still stands really. Revisionism of whichever country started whatever war. It’s still revisionism.

The man is dangerous. He is so convinced that no country can live without EU he said ‘Brexit CANNOT be a success’. He is so convinced the EU stops wars that one wonders if he would start a war with an ex-EU member to prove the EU is needed to not start wars.

He is unbalanced.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 11:06 PM CET

wow

They also photoshopped Junker’s pot-belly for him. That’s nice bit of propaganda. Maybe photoshop his shirt off and put him on a horse like Putin?

Posted on 8/7/17 | 7:02 AM CET

Timothy

I cut and paste the following;-

The Schlieffen Plan. Germany had been preparing for war long before 1914. In fact, Germany had started drawing up a plan for war – the Schlieffen Plan – in 1897. It took nine years to finalise, but it was based on the theory that Germany would be at war with France and Russia at the same time.

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